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LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 03: Custio Clayton of Canada (L) in action with Cameron Hammond of Australia during the Men's Welter (69kg) Boxing on Day 7 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at ExCeL on August 3, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Scott Heavey/Getty Images)

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Custio Clayton of Canada (R) in action with Cameron Hammond of Australia during the Men's Welter (69kg) Boxing on Day 7 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at ExCeL on August 3, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Scott Heavey/Getty Images)

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 03: Custio Clayton of Canada (L) in action with Cameron Hammond of Australia during the Men's Welter (69kg) Boxing on Day 7 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at ExCeL on August 3, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Scott Heavey/Getty Images)

Custio Clayton of Canada (L) in action with Cameron Hammond of Australia during the Men's Welter (69kg) Boxing on Day 7 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at ExCeL on August 3, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Scott Heavey/Getty Images)

MMA Crossfire Expert Noel Clubb checks in with this thoughts on London 2012 ‘s Olympic boxing and Canada’s performance.

It’s sad to see that bogus refereeing continues to flourish in the Olympic Games, with several puzzling decisions. At least one referee was kicked out, having been wined-and-dined by dubious officials.

Fortunately, the quality of boxing itself eventually overshadowed the refs. We saw a taste of the electricity that the sport still provides for The Games.

MMA Crossfire – The hard-hitting blog that features expert commentary.

Over to MMA Crossfire Expert Noel Clubb:

MMA Crossfire Expert and professional boxing instructor Noel Clubb.

Certified professional boxing instructor Noel Clubb divides his time between Pound 4 Pound in Markham & Pickering, Ontario. He also instructs at MMA World Academy/ Clubb Canada (Amateur & Professional Boxing) located in Scarborough, Ontario, where he is currently building a competitive boxing team.

LONDON 2012: OLYMPIC BOXING NOTES

Women’s boxing debuted successfully as a medal category. They were the talk of London. Especially Million Dollar Katie:

The Canadian men’s squad, consisting of Simon Kean and Custio Clayton did well, putting in impressive performances within. I was impressed by Clayton in the welterweight division, showing a lot of skill and good countering abilities. He lost a controversial bout in the quarterfinals to Britain’s Freddie Evans on countback

Britain’s Anthony Joshua upset the favored Roberto Cammarelle of Italy in the men’s super heavyweight division. Joshua who came back in a thrilling bout where he was behind on points to a solid and tough world class opponent in Cammarelle of Italy, made his home country proud, in what was one of the better fights.

Serik Sapliyev of Kasakhstan hand speed and counter-punching ended being too much for Great Britain’s Freddie Evans. Evans ended up running out of steam in the process and guaranteeing the gold for Sapliyev.

Men’s Lightweight (60 kg)

Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukrain) vs. Soonchul Han(Korea)

Vasyl Lomachenko. REUTERS/ David Mdzinarishvili.

Vasyl Lomachenko of the Ukraine, did not disappoint. His great skills, hand speed and experience would be a problem for anyone in his division. Lomachenko won his second gold medal after defeating Soonchul Han of Korea. Lomachenko, is someone to watch for once making the “step up” into the professional boxing ranks, where he could be the next “big thing” to follow in boxing.

Men’s Flyweight (52 kg)

Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana. Scott Heavey/Getty Images.

Tugstsogt Nyambayar (Mongolia) vs. Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana (Cuba)

Carrazanna wins the gold medal in the flyweight division

Women’s Olympic Boxing

Nicola Adams. PA Images Tim Ireland / PA Wire

Great Britain’s Nicola Adams wins the first gold medal in women’s boxing, making history in her home town after an exciting bout with the world class Ren Cancan of China. Claressa Shields delivered in the end, after a tentative start and finished with her usual hard-hitting, quick hand speed, and great counter-punching abilities, winning the gold medal for the USA in the middleweight division.

Women’s Middleweight (75 kg)

Women’s boxing gold medalist Claressa Shields gave a shout out to her hometown Flint on NBC’s “Today” show Friday. (Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press)

Claressa Shields (USA) vs. Nadezada Tolrolopova (Russia)

Gold medalist Claressa Shields of the USA demonstrated her hard punching and quick countering abilities and her defensive skills. In the first round, She did not use her usual dominating style of attack, only ending the first round with a 3-3 score. It wasn’t until the second round did Shields began to increase her speed in countering of Tolrolopova’s punches did the momentum begin to switch into her favor. Eventually Shields quickness, hand speed and hard hitting took its toll on Tolrolopova.

Women’s Flyweight (51 kg)

Ren Cancan (China) vs. Nicola Adams (Great Britain)

Nicola Adams of Great Britain had her work cut for her in world class amateur boxer in Ren Cancan. Nicola Adams put on a great performance in front of her home crowd and capturing the gold medal in the women’s flyweight division and capturing headlines in London with the historical moment. Adams turned the page and began a new chapter in your boxing career of defeating her AIBA nemesis and captured the gold, in an entertaining flyweight bout. Nicola Adams of Great Britain wins the Gold Medal, and becomes the first official Women to receive a Gold Medal in Boxing in front of her home town fans in London.

Mary Spencer, 27 years of age, a three-time world champion, five-time Pan Am Games gold medalist, and an eight-time Canadian champion, entered the Olympics as a favorite to win a medal for Canada, even though losing the qualifying match to Shields earlier. Everyone remembers Mary’s disappointing opening bout loss to China’s Jinz Liin the 75 kg quarter finals. Mary did not seem mentally prepared for the bout, as she looked “out of sync” as the bout with China’s Li progressed.

Recently, Mary stated that she would put off retirement from boxing and make a run for the 2016 Summer Games being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The 2012 Canadian Olympic Boxing Team Review

In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Canada had a single entry in boxing. Canada lost the first bout of the tournament. In London, we had two men who qualified and one woman, wildcard Mary Spencer who lost her Olympic qualifying bout to the USA’s Claressa Shields. Mary Spencer was our “hope” while Custio Clayton and Simon Kean were quietly written off by most, and ended up with some surprising results in the end.

Clayton, who started off with a good start in the welterweight division, when he defeated Mexico’s Oscar Molina earlier in the tournament, was eliminated in the quarter-finals. Clayton lost to Freddie Evans of Great Britain. Simon Kean who has fought many battles in his personal life, had an uphill battle against super heavyweight Dychko of Kazakhstan. The 23-year-old Kean, lost to Ivan Dychkoin a one-sided decision.

Overall it was a much better performance in recent Olympic memory. It was something that Canadian boxing can build on, to develop and inspire future talent to dream big and work hard.

We need to teach and most importantly support our boxing talent in the future Olympic games, to help facilitate and develop success in our program. That is the only way in order to develop future Canadian boxing stars. I believe that Canada can produce gold medalists in Boxing again, like Lennox Lewis, Shawn O’Sullivan, Billy “The kid” Irwin – we can do it, with more Canadian support.

Support your local boxing gyms and talent. It can go a long way to something special.